Dusting Off an Old Friend

I have always loved the accordion. It is one of those instruments that most people have an opinion about. They either love it, hate it or tolerate it. I fall into the first group. I think it is one of the happiest instruments around. How can you not love a good polka? In the late 90's my friend gave me a wonderful bass accordion that belonged to his grandmother. It was beautiful, with a pearlized red and cream color. I found an accordion teacher and faithfully, once a week I would lug the big accordion in my little VW Cabriolet down to Chula Vista and sit in a dark apartment and take accordion lessons. It was fun, and I was pretty dedicated to it for a while. I mastered the Beer Barrel Polka and a few others. Once I started working full time in 2000, the accordion stayed in the case a lot more, and eventually it was relegated to the back of the guest room closet.

I decided to bring the accordion on the move. Today, my Mel Bay "You Can Teach Yourself the Accordion" manual showed up in the mail and I took my old friend out of the case. She is as heavy as I remember and just as fun. It's slow going remembering where to place my left hand in relation to the buttons, but I think it will come back. Here's to getting acquainted with the old friend.